Aliano badlands (Calanchi)

The Aliano badlands, in the province of Matera, are spectacular clay formations shaped over time by water and wind. Their pale ridges, deep furrows, and barren slopes create an almost lunar landscape, changing color with the light of day.

All around, gullies, fields, and small woods alternate, in a rugged and silent environment that also struck the writer Carlo Levi, confined to Aliano and author of *Christ Stopped at Eboli*. It is an evocative place, where the wild beauty of the landscape also speaks to the fragility of the land.

Photo: Guidos24, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons – https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Calanchi_di_Aliano_visti_dal_belvedere.jpg